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Strife islands: 34 die in new attack

Source
Sydney Morning Herald - May 27, 2000

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Armed assailants have attacked a remote village in Indonesia's strife-torn former Spice Islands, killing at least 34 people, injuring scores and setting buildings and places of worship ablaze, the military said yesterday.

The attackers pounced on a village on Halmahera island on Thursday, arriving by land and in speedboats, in the latest eruption of sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in the bloodied Maluku group of islands.

"On Thursday morning, a group of people attacked the village of Mamuya, near Galela town, claiming a significant number of victims," said Captain Sutarno of the Pattimura military command, which oversees the scattered eastern islands.

"From 109 recorded victims, 34 are dead and 66 people are badly wounded. However, on Friday security has been under control, but the atmosphere of vengeance is still strong," he said.

The official Antara news agency said eight of the attackers were among the dead and two had been identified as coming from Indonesia's westernmost island of Sumatra, far from the Maluku group.

Tension in the islands has been fuelled by the arrival of more than 2,000 hardline Muslim paramilitaries, who travelled by sea after training in a camp in Java.

The paramilitaries, from the Muslim Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jama'ah Forum, have vowed a jihad, or holy war, although their leaders say their role is to help Muslims, not attack Christians.

On Thursday, newspapers quoted a forum official, Ma'ruf Bahrun, as saying in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon that some of the group's members had become embroiled in violence in the region, but only in self-defence.

The former Spice Islands have been riven by religious violence between Christians and Muslims since early 1999. Violence erupted again earlier this month in Ambon, leaving at least 38 dead.

Residents of Ambon said yesterday that tension had eased for the moment in the city. Commercial activities had resumed and road blockades had been lifted.

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